Vancouver Sun
A 65-year-old man has been convicted of murdering a 79-year-old man, who was stabbed to death at a hotel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 2004.
« They say I stabbed him 130 times, » the killer, George Phillip Holt, said in an interview with The Vancouver Sun last Friday during a break in his murder trial.
Holt, who was on bail at the time and sitting in a wheelchair outside the Vancouver Law Courts, said he had no memory of committing the murder.
He said the victim, Reginald Haynes, had asked Holt to perform oral sex, offering to pay Holt $50.
Holt said he « lost it. »
« I killed the guy by accident, » Holt said.
The killer made the comments before the jury reached its verdict, convicting Holt guilty of second-degree murder at about 8:30 p.m. last Friday night.
When he spoke to The Sun, he said he expected to be found guilty of murder and receive a lengthy prison sentence.
Seven of the 12 jurors recommended that Holt should serve at least 15 years before he is eligible for parole, one juror recommended Holt serve 20 years, two recommended he serve the minimum 10 years and two left it up to the judge.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with no parole for 10 to 25 years.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gail Dickson will hear sentencing submissions Friday at 2 p.m.
The trial judge will decide whether the nature of the crime and Holt’s background would warrant an increased parole ineligibility period.
The judge will also have to consider the advanced age of the killer.
The trial heard evidence that Holt and Haynes were both living at the Columbia Hotel at the time of the Aug. 27, 2004 murder, which went unsolved for years.
Holt’s blood was found in Haynes’ room, but he denied being involved, blaming the crime on two other men.
After the case stalled, Vancouver police detectives decided to dust off the file and finally solved it in 2009, when Holt was arrested at his home in New Westminster.
At trial, expert pathologist Dr. Charles Lee testified that the victim suffered from approximately 130 stab wounds and cutting injuries.
Holt testified that he was high on cocaine at the time Haynes asked him to perform oral sex.
« I started to lose it because I have a fear of homosexuals, » the killer told the jury.
He testified he didn’t remember stabbing him.
The Crown called as witnesses the two men whom Holt had initially blamed for the murder. Both denied any involvement.
The men voluntarily provided DNA samples to police in 2009, which cleared them as suspects.
The jury rejected Holt’s defence, which was a combination of lack of intent due to cocaine intoxication and provocation.